Managing HumansBiting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager Author: Michael Lopp If you manage people, this book is worth reading. Rather than offering complete solutions, it presents the author’s gut feelings based on his experience with what works and what doesn’t. It’s written lightly, with plenty of humor and healthy doses of sarcasm that make it engaging without being cynical. ...
Team TopologiesOrganizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow Authors: Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais Team Topologies is a must-read for anyone involved in building software at scale. It moves away from the “everyone should talk to everyone” fallacy and introduces a pragmatic, team-first approach to organizational design. By focusing on cognitive load and the flow of value, Skelton and Pais provide a clear vocabulary for discussing team structures and their interactions. ...
Radical CandorHow to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean Author: Kim Scott The general idea of the book is that great leadership means caring personally while challenging directly. When I started reading the book, I figured out it’s not that radical at all. It’s about feedback, mostly constructive: “Radical Candor” is about giving feedback that is both kind and clear-helping people grow while building strong, trusting relationships. ...
Snakes in SuitsUnderstanding and Surviving the Psychopaths in Your Office Authors: Paul Babiak, Robert D. Hare I read the Polish translation titled “Psychopaci w pracy: Jak ich rozpoznać i jak sobie z nimi radzić”. Psychopaci w pracyJak ich rozpoznać i jak sobie z nimi radzić ...
UNSCRIPTEDLife, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship Author: MJ DeMarco This book felt so similar to The 4-Hour Work Week that I experienced deja-vu several times while reading it. In the end, I didn’t finish it. The tone of UNSCRIPTED is lighter than Tim Ferriss’s book (or maybe I’ve just grown used to the occasional swearing), but it was probably just bad timing to start this one so soon after finishing the other - the ideas and examples overlap quite a bit. ...
Escaping the Build TrapHow Effective Product Management Creates Real Value Author: Melissa Perri This was the first book on Product Management I’ve ever read, and I’m glad I started with such a solid one. In my daily work, I collaborate closely with product owners, and I wanted to better understand their role: How do they work? What are their priorities? And how can our collaboration be more effective? What I appreciated most about this book is how clearly it structures the profession of Product Management and breaks down its many facets. ...
The 4-hour work weekEscape 9-5, live anywhere and join the new rich Author: Timothy Ferriss This book’s title feels like a joke at first, but once you start reading, you realize Ferriss is absolutely serious about it. He breaks things down step by step, challenging the default assumptions about work and life. He defines the “New Rich” as people who have rediscovered what being rich actually means. Most people grind away day after day, chasing the “holy” retirement, only to find that when it finally arrives, they’re already too old or too tired to enjoy it. They work longer, harder, and more, just to justify not trying a different life. The “NR” (the New Rich, as he calls them) understand that being rich isn’t about having more stuff, but about having the freedom to choose what you do and when you do it. Ferriss suggests using geographical arbitrage-moving to cheaper places where you can live like the rich, often for surprisingly little money. He encourages you not to wait for retirement, but to start taking “mini retirements” right now, throughout your life. ...
Antifragile Systems and TeamsAuthor: Dave Zwieback This is a short read, but it does a solid job of capturing an important idea: that the healthiest systems and teams aren’t just resistant to change, they actually get stronger through it. Zwieback contrasts fragile organizations - those that try to lock things down and prevent every possible failure - with antifragile ones, which use volatility, mistakes, and small shocks as opportunities to learn and improve. ...
Getting to YesNegotiating an agreement without giving in Authors: Roger Fisher, William Ury, Bruce Patton I’ve often heard about the “Harvard Negotiation” method, but I hadn’t read Getting to Yes until recently. To my surprise, much of the content felt familiar - not because I had read it before, but because I had already been using many of its principles, unknowingly picked up from other sources. ...
Jak w kilku krokach Odnaleźć ZespółTrochę inna opowieść o przywództwie zespołowym Author: Piotr Jankowski I really enjoyed this book, despite it’s not widely known or even available to buy, but I’ve been working with it’s author, Piotr. I was participating few sessions/trainings with Piotr and reading this book was for me like I’ve heard him again next to me. ...